defnz: I think there should be two streams of Windows 8, or at least the ability to revert back to classic.

One for tablets/touch which is what metro is clearly designed for and another for corporate/people who want a minimalist desktop with a simple start menu and task bar

THIS..

Make a kick arse Ipad killing OS for phone/tablet by all means, but don't make the mistake of thinking that PC users want that same OS.

Very much agreed, But I have the sneaking suspicion that Microsoft have known for a while now that it would be unlikely there would be mass adoption of W8 in no matter what condition it came out in.

Perhaps due to the failures they have had in creating separate and different versions of windows previously (Think XP MCE) they decided to incorporate something that should have been a completely different version of the OS.

If the Metro integration stays the same in RTM I would be inclined to see it as Microsoft sacrificing Windows 8 because it was already doomed to fail after the already stable and quickly adopted Windows 7, Windows 8 is one for the tablet users and the technologically "Simple Folk" but without the ability to disable Metro at will have a lot of difficulty to get mass adoption by anyone wanting to control their OS.

Simple answer to Microsoft is to allow a Classic feature, But if Microsoft do so remains to be seen, For now however I do not own a tablet and nor do I intend to buy one running windows so it looks like I will be staying with Windows 7 well into the distant future for the same reason I favor Firefox over Chrome.

defnz: I think there should be two streams of Windows 8, or at least the ability to revert back to classic.

One for tablets/touch which is what metro is clearly designed for and another for corporate/people who want a minimalist desktop with a simple start menu and task bar

THIS..

Make a kick arse Ipad killing OS for phone/tablet by all means, but don't make the mistake of thinking that PC users want that same OS.

Very much agreed, But I have the sneaking suspicion that Microsoft have known for a while now that it would be unlikely there would be mass adoption of W8 in no matter what condition it came out in.

Perhaps due to the failures they have had in creating separate and different versions of windows previously (Think XP MCE) they decided to incorporate something that should have been a completely different version of the OS.

If the Metro integration stays the same in RTM I would be inclined to see it as Microsoft sacrificing Windows 8 because it was already doomed to fail after the already stable and quickly adopted Windows 7, Windows 8 is one for the tablet users and the technologically "Simple Folk" but without the ability to disable Metro at will have a lot of difficulty to get mass adoption by anyone wanting to control their OS.

Simple answer to Microsoft is to allow a Classic feature, But if Microsoft do so remains to be seen, For now however I do not own a tablet and nor do I intend to buy one running windows so it looks like I will be staying with Windows 7 well into the distant future for the same reason I favor Firefox over Chrome.

I am looking at metro and thinking remote support is going to a joke! I am just gobsmacked they are considering dissallowing metro to be disabled, that's just FULL of fail. I can't see any business looking at W8 and seeing metro and taking it seriously.

defnz: I think there should be two streams of Windows 8, or at least the ability to revert back to classic.

One for tablets/touch which is what metro is clearly designed for and another for corporate/people who want a minimalist desktop with a simple start menu and task bar

THIS..

Make a kick arse Ipad killing OS for phone/tablet by all means, but don't make the mistake of thinking that PC users want that same OS.

Very much agreed, But I have the sneaking suspicion that Microsoft have known for a while now that it would be unlikely there would be mass adoption of W8 in no matter what condition it came out in.

Perhaps due to the failures they have had in creating separate and different versions of windows previously (Think XP MCE) they decided to incorporate something that should have been a completely different version of the OS.

If the Metro integration stays the same in RTM I would be inclined to see it as Microsoft sacrificing Windows 8 because it was already doomed to fail after the already stable and quickly adopted Windows 7, Windows 8 is one for the tablet users and the technologically "Simple Folk" but without the ability to disable Metro at will have a lot of difficulty to get mass adoption by anyone wanting to control their OS.

Simple answer to Microsoft is to allow a Classic feature, But if Microsoft do so remains to be seen, For now however I do not own a tablet and nor do I intend to buy one running windows so it looks like I will be staying with Windows 7 well into the distant future for the same reason I favor Firefox over Chrome.

I am looking at metro and thinking remote support is going to a joke! I am just gobsmacked they are considering dissallowing metro to be disabled, that's just FULL of fail. I can't see any business looking at W8 and seeing metro and taking it seriously.

defnz: I think there should be two streams of Windows 8, or at least the ability to revert back to classic.

One for tablets/touch which is what metro is clearly designed for and another for corporate/people who want a minimalist desktop with a simple start menu and task bar

Take Apple for example, although they're adding more of iOS into OSX at least they're not forcing you to use the OS like a touch device by removing classic features

++++++1 QFT!!

+1 as well.

I can see real appeal to someone who just consumes content of having phone/tablet/pc all the same experience but to most people this isn't helpful.

Having similar experiences is much better - the fact is all 3 devices are used in completely different ways to each other so their is no way one UI is going to be good on all devices.

I can see the Metro being good on phones, great on tablets but rubbish on a computer. Maybe for the home users it is good as it simplifies things but for most people it means more clicks and more messing just to get the apps they want open.

I can't see ANY and i do mean ANY businesses wanting to use this if they can't disable Metro in windows (and using 3rd party apps doesn't count).

It is similar to the change to ribbon interface, although it is not as drastic Microsoft didn't give anyone a choice and i know a lot of business who are still on 2003 versions of software because they didn't like ribbon.

I opted for upgrading my HP tablet (Win 7) as opposed to Virtual machinbe - as I wanted to be up and running with all my apps (WOrd / Outlook / Adobe creative suite etc.) quickly without wasting another two hours reinstalling them.

My first impression is not as negative as Lias above - as I am already aware of the paradigm shift with where Microsoft is going with Windows 8 - so I decided to benchmark it against my first experience with iPad 2's and Android tablets (as opposed to how it fares as a corporate desktop).

(1) The messages about having to log on with a Microsoft Account is confusing. Why cant they associate the Microsoft account with the Windows login's to avoid this?

(2) When I got my iPad for the first time, it took me 30 seconds from the initial post installation boot time to intuitively find my email application set up emails and send an email. After five minute, I still have not found out how to get to my old Outlook I had before I upgraded - nor how to type up a document in WOrd. The fact that I cant find it intuitively within the first 5 minutes (neither could anyone else in the family) shows that the user experience could be improved for the final launch.

(3) I know this is a beta - but if the Xbox live login is not going to work in NZ, why not disable it in the first place (like Apple did with Siri in NZ when it first launched)?

If Metro is supposed to be an intuitive Tablet interface, so far it has failed. But am I going to roll back to Win 7 - Hell No - I am going to give it a go.

I can't see ANY and i do mean ANY businesses wanting to use this if they can't disable Metro in windows (and using 3rd party apps doesn't count).

It is similar to the change to ribbon interface, although it is not as drastic Microsoft didn't give anyone a choice and i know a lot of business who are still on 2003 versions of software because they didn't like ribbon.

I'm one of those Luddites that hates the ribbon interface, as are many of my colleagues.

I've been wondering why one would want to move to Win8, but then I'm not a big fan of Win7 either

I suspect not being able to disable the Metro interface will be a deal breaker, at least for my firm and many ofd our clients

So far I cant see any reason to want Win8 - and many to not - maybe some of you fanboys could explain where the advantages lie

jim.cox: So far I cant see any reason to want Win8 - and many to not - maybe some of you fanboys could explain where the advantages lie

You can disable the metro as per Nathan's post.

Despite my earlier post above about the initial lack of intuitiveness of the User interface (see above), I am beginning to like it. I think before you discount the tabs of the Metro, give it a try. It will probably take an hour or two for you to get used to it.

If Metro is supposed to be the most compelling part of Windows 8, then why disable it? If you still think it is crap after trying it for a 3 hours or so (as opposed to seeing other people's screen dumps) - then just roll back to what you are using now ! At least you could say you tried it and it was not for you (or get exited about it if you like it!)

With regards to the 'Advantages' - I guess the main advantage is the user experience of touch interface (I am using it from a HP Tablet). Although my tablet shipped with Win7, it works like a treat with the new OS. If you are a tablet user, this new Windows 8 is a no brainer.

The other advantages (faster boot's, better performance etc.) has not really worked for me - the boot time is about the same, and the performance is bit iffier - though I am still working on tweaking it (e.g. reinstall the display driver etc.)

I gotta say, I absolutely hate Metro.. It looks nice, but it just isn't usable on a desktop/laptop PC intuitively. It will be fine on a tablet, but it just doesn't work well with a mouse or touchpad.

I installed it last night and had a quick play around, and have been using it all morning but I just can't get myself to like it.

To me, the 'hotspots' being used for menus just doesn't work (especially with no graphic indicator that there is even anything there).

- I alt+tab a lot, but most people I know just click the icons in the taskbar, so having to move to the upper left corner (while in metro) for multi tasking is not obvious

- closing a metro app.... why would anyone think to grab the very top and then drag it right down to the bottom of the screen to close?

- shutting down the computer.. This process is cumbersome, especially with a touchpad. moving to the corner, then down to settings, then power, then shutdown...

- right click hidden menus in metro apps.. again, no indication that anything is even there. It took me a few tries just to set the weather location in the weather app, and even longer to try and make it show up in the metro view (ended up just pinning the weather location, and then had the default weather tile there as well).

Now I don't have a live account, nor do I intend to use one in the future, so most of these apps I can't even use yet so can't comment on them; But so far I don't like having them in full screen for a desktop environment without easily being able to show multiple things like in the desktop mode.

I haven't used 8, but know from posts here and screenshots I've seen that I'm not going to like it. I currently have zero icons on my screen, my background is one of my photos, which I change occasionally. How am I going to see the photo? Can all the crap be turned off? I do not like stuff all over my screen. God forbid if I ever have to use a touch-screen.

Do you have to have a Windows live ID? If so - way to alienate your customers, if not, phew!